Yu-Gi-Oh ZeXal!: Astral Saga
by Magmashift
Summary: I am a firm believer that Astral is the hottest character alive. So I'm making a whole story about him getting a taste of fangirls. I'm new to ZeXal. On another note, Kurutta Majo/Loon is my OC. Her name means crazy witch. Pretty much a story that brings Astral and Yuma closer together as friends. Fangirls plus Astral equals this fanfic.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Warning you now: there may not be any dueling in the future, but there's a small chance that I will do some dueling. This is my first YGOZ fanfic, so try and tell me if I'm doing something wrong.**

**"Yuma, your alarm is going off again. You've overslept." **

**"I know, I know! You don't have to remind me every day."**

**"Observation number 14: Humans are prone to ignoring periodic reminders." Yuma groaned as he rushed out the door as Astral followed close behind. He rushed to the school and ran face-first into the school doors. **

**"Huh? What the? Why are the doors locked?" Yuma grunted as he tried to open the doors and then stopped, noticing someone beside him. A girl with over-sized coke-bottle glasses and teal hair brushed neatly down as some of it hung over her shoulder was standing beside him with a small smile. "Did you get locked out, too?"**

**"You do realize what today is, don't you?" She asked, not staring at him. The color drained from his face as he realized what day it was; Sunday. Yuma fell to the ground, feeling exhausted. **

**"Wait, if it's Sunday, why are ****_you _****here?" She laughed quietly. "Being on school property when it's closed is trespassing."**

**"I was trying to follow you to tell you that you forgot your schoolbooks yesterday in last period." She held out a couple of textbooks. Yuma blinked at her as she looked a bit to Yuma's left; right where Astral was floating. For a few seconds, he thought that she could see him, but when she turned back to Yuma, the thought flew from his mind. "Well, see you tomorrow." She ran off in the opposite direction. **

**"Who was that female?" Astral asked. Yuma shook her head.**

**"Her name's ****Kurutta Majo**, but everyone calls her Loon. She's got more screws loose than a beaten up robot. So, in other words, she's crazy." Yuma yawned. "Man, I can't believe I woke up this early on a Sunday." Before Yuma could walk another step, he fell to the sidewalk, asleep. 

**"Observation 15A: When humans ignore their periodical reminders, they fall asleep on sidewalks." **

**"I think he's dead."**

**"No, he's breathing."**

**"I don't think that's breathing. It sounds more like a garbage disposal."**

**"Is it healthy for someone to snore like that?"**

**"Probably not. Should someone wake him up?"**

**"Someone give me his wallet."**

**"Let's poke him with a stick." There was a sharp poke in Yuma's side. He woke with a jerk. **

**"Told you he wasn't dead." Yuma looked up to see a group of students surrounding him. Most of them were girls laughing at him. One girl was his friend, Tori. She had her hands on her hips. **

**"What day is it?" Was all Yuma could asked.**

**"Monday." She answered.**

**"WHAT!? I SLEPT THROUGH MY ENTIRE SUNDAY!? I HAD SO MUCH HOMEWORK TO CATCH UP ON!" The group laughed at him. Yuma looked at Astral. "WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP!?" **

**"I thought this was normal behavior for humans." Astral answered. Yuma sighed and got to his feet. What was the point in having a 'dueling ghost' with him if all he was good for was making observations? Of course, it did help that he helped Yuma win duels. **

**"Well, one day, you're gonna learn what's normal for a human and what's not. And without me being the test dummy." Astral made no comment. "I don't know ****_how_****, but one day it'll happen." Tori rolled her eyes and dragged him into the school. Yuma sat in the back of the classroom and slammed his head on the desk repeatedly. Loon sat beside him. **

**"Is something bothering you?" She asked, placing a rolled up jacket between his forehead and desk. Despite the cushioning, Yuma kept proceeding with his frustrated face-desking. **

**"I slept throughout my entire Sunday and woke up ****_at _****school with people poking me and trying to take my wallet." Loon smiled. **

**"That can't be the worst part, can it?" He looked at her with an exhausted smiled.**

**"Oh, you have no idea. You'd understand if I said that I had this feeling of something constantly hanging over me 24/7, wouldn't you?" **

**"If you're referring to that invisible friend you were yelling at earlier, then yes." Yuma almost forgot about yelling at Astral in front of everyone. Since he didn't reply, she continued. "Invisible or not, yelling at someone can hurt their feelings. But I'll let you in on a secret; he's not invisible to me." Yuma blinked at her as she went back to reading her book. He shook his head. There was no way she could see Astral; the girl was insane ****_and _****wore glasses. She probably just spotted a smudge on her glasses. For all Yuma knew, she could have been spotting 'invisible people' everyday. Astral, however, wasn't so convinced that she was all too crazy. He floated closer to her. **

**"You can see me?" He asked. No answer came from her. If she could see him, she probably couldn't hear him.**

**"Of course she can't see you. She's mentally insane! Only ****_I _****can see you." Yuma said angrily. Loon laughed and looked at Yuma. **

**"You're making ****_yourself _****sound insane, Mr. Tsukumo." Yuma stopped speaking and slammed his head on the desk once more. Loon took her glasses off and cleaned a smudge off of them. **

**Later that night, Yuma face-planted himself into his bed, ready to sleep. A sound from Astral called his attention to the window. "What?" **

**"There is a light falling from the sky." Astral pointed. Yuma poked his head out. **

**"Oh, cool. You've found a shooting star."**

**"Shooting star?"**

**"They're comets that come within the atmosphere. If you spot one, you make a wish on it and it'll come true. Well, it's supposed to, at least." Astral looked up at the sky, not saying anything. It almost surprised Yuma that he hadn't made an observation. "Go on and make a wish. It's best to make one in your mind; if you say it out loud, it won't come true." Astral closed his eyes for a second and opened them as the shooting star passed. Yuma rested his chin on his hand. **

**_I wish there was an easier way for Astral to learn about humans first-hand. _****As he yawned and stretched, Yuma fell to his bed, asleep in seconds. **

**Yuma woke to the sound of his alarm. Quickly, he shut it off; the last thing he needed was Astral reminding him that he overslept. As Yuma sat up, there was no sign of Astral. He looked around, not sure where he could have gone. Perhaps Astral's wish was to go back to his own world. "YOU COULD HAVE AT LEAST SAID GOOD-BYE!" Yuma shouted as he stomped out of the house. When Yuma got to school, he felt like he almost missed having Astral ask him random questions about humans. Once again, he sat in the back of the classroom. To his right, Loon was under a pile of books. How could she have so many textbooks? When Yuma tilted his head to the side, he saw that they weren't schoolbooks, but spell books. **

**Before he could get a good look at the titles, the teacher stood. "Okay, now turn in your books to page-" **

**They didn't know what page to turn to because a voice mumbled, "Excuse me, I'm a new student." Yuma looked up and fell out of his chair. In the front of the class stood a young boy with pale blue hair that stood up in a curved cone and yellow eyes; Astral. Every girl in class practically had hearts in their eyes. Every girl except Loon, at least; from what Yuma saw, even the teacher was gawking at Astral. Quietly, Astral took a seat close to Yuma's. Loon's smile seemed to grow wider as Yuma's eyes grew bigger.**

**"What-how-but-you-huh?" Was all Yuma could mutter. Astral looked at Yuma. **

**"I'm not quite sure how I got this form, either." He answered.**

**"Where'd you get the clothes?" Yuma asked.**

**"I found these in your closet. I left your house because I needed to go somewhere quiet to try and figure it out." After school, Tori ran up to Yuma, 'accidentally' bumping into Astral. **

**"Hi, Yuma, who's your friend?" She asked, ignoring the fact that her elbow had smacked Yuma in the gut. **

**"Uh, this is Astral; he's the 'duel-" Tori pushed him out of the way and eagerly shook Astral's hand. **

**"Hi, I'm Tori." Yuma stood and dusted himself off. **

**"He ****_was _****the dueling ghost that followed me everywhere. Sometime last night he turned human." Yuma finished explaining, rubbing his gut.**

**"So, that means he's single, right?" Yuma fell to the ground. When he got back up, he saw that more females surrounded Astral and that not only were they treating him like a god, a buffet table filled with steak, burgers, fish, and all types of dessert. **

**"Make sure you try the chocolate pudding, it's homemade."**

**"Our steak is made fresh every day."**

**"Make sure you stop at my boutique to get some clothes. I have a perfect outfit that goes perfect with your eyes."**

**"Don't forget the sushi. It's made with our signature spices and herbs." Astral was happy to oblige as he took a bite of cake. Yuma smiled as he saw a plate of rice balls. **

**"Hey, rice balls!" He had barely touched one when the group of women stood behind him with looks that could kill.**

**"Those are not for you." They said angrily. Quickly, Yuma dropped the rice ball and stepped away. Ignoring the fact that the women were almost ready to rip Yuma's throat out, Astral slid the plate of rice balls toward Yuma. **

**"You can have them." He said as he took another bite of cake. Slowly, Yuma reached for the rice balls and stuffed them in his pocket. Astral took a bite of an apple before Yuma yanked him away. The girls blinked as Astral tried to follow Yuma. **

**"That was close. They nearly killed me for touching rice balls!" Yuma said. He looked around to see if there were any other girls and sighed in relief when he saw that there was no one. "We need to find out how to get you back to normal. I'm not gonna live in fear of rabid fangirls just because they want you to eat." Astral nodded in agreement, though his face showed that he wanted to have more of the food called 'cake'. "Did you wish to be human on that shooting star?" **

**Astral looked at him, it was clear he had forgotten about the shooting star, but shook his head, letting Yuma know that wishing to be human was the last thing on his mind during the shooting star. Did ****_Yuma's _****wish turn him human? Granted, being human was a much easier way to learn about humans first-hand, but he didn't mean to wish Astral human. Getting around with Astral by his side would be difficult. "Okay, well, it was only one incident, what's the worst that could happen?" **

**As they walked to his house, Yuma noticed several girls starting to stare at Astral as he passed. He glanced back at Astral; honestly, he didn't see anything so handsome about him. As Yuma suspected, shortly after they showed themselves to the public, more female shop owners were trying to give Astral their merchandise such as scarves, jackets, puppies, and even a few sets of earrings that one woman insisted would make him look more mature. To make them go away, Yuma made Astral get one thing from each of them; to Astral's dismay, there was no baker trying to give him cake. By the time they got to Yuma's house, Astral's arms were filled with scarves, jewelry, clothing that he was sure was too big on him, and a kitten sleeping on top of it all. **

**Astral sat down, holding the kitten and looking at Yuma. "What do you suggest we do?" He asked. Yuma fell on the couch, flustered. **

**"I don't know. The only suggestions I've got are surrender you to the women and plastic surgery." Astral blinked, not sure how to reply. "Don't look at me like that. I was almost killed for a rice ball. It's not like you have any ideas." **

**"Perhaps there will be another shooting star that can aid us in fixing this wish." **

**"There are ****_other _****ways of getting a wish. Stay right here, and stay out of sight of anyone on the outside," he started shutting the blinds on his windows, "and my sister." Yuma ran outside. Yuma ran into Tori.**

**"Hey, Yuma, where's Astral?" She asked. Her cheeks were a little pink.**

**"Uh, I don't know, why? Where'd you get that dress?"**

**"I wanted to ask him to the school dance." She mumbled, her face turning redder. **

**"Well, he's not going to stay human much longer. I'm going to get some things for him to wish on to get back-"**

**"YOU ARE NOT CHANGING HIM BACK!" Before Yuma could react, Tori had him pinned to the ground, wrenching his arm. **

**"AHHH! UNCLE, UNCLE!" Tori released him and he quickly dashed away. The crazed girl started chasing him. Yuma dashed into a field of dandelions and snatched up a bundle. Somehow, more girls had managed to get involved in the chase. Turning a corner, he bumped Shark to the ground and looked back. "Sorry! I'll explain later!" The girls seemed to gain speed as they too pushed Shark out of the way and into an outside diner. Yuma quickly started making wishes on the dandelions. Desperately, Tori started catching the bits that flew off. **

**"YUMA!" Yuma rushed into his house, trying to hold the door shut.**

**"Astral, help me!" Quickly, Astral got up and helped Yuma shut the door and locked it. Yuma fell to the ground, panting. He weakly held up the last dandelion. "M…make a wish and then blow…on the dandelion…" Astral took the dandelion and stared at Yuma.**

**"Humans have odd rituals for wishing." But he did as told and helped Yuma to his feet. "I don't feel any different."**

**"Well, I guess it takes effect overnight like the last wish did. But just in case." Yuma plucked an eyelash from Astral. "Try an eyelash wish. Same thing as the dandelion, but with an eyelash." Yuma jumped as there was a knock on the door. Fearful, he looked through the peephole. To his relief, it was Loon and no other girls were out there. He opened the door and let her in, closing it just as she entered as to make sure that no one else would sneak in. "What are you doing here?"**

**"I heard the girls chasing you and wanted to make sure that you were all right." She answered. **

**"That reminds me, how come you're not one of those crazy girls who fell in love with Astral just by staring at him?" **

**"If history serves correctly, you'll remember that apparently I already ****_am _****crazy. But if I were to answer your question, you'd think me insane." Astral stood and looked out the window. However he got like this, he knew that it would not be fixed easily. "So tell me Astral how it feels to have human emotions." That caught both Yuma and Astral by surprise. **

**"I don't understand the question." Astral commented. Yuma stepped in front of him.**

**"You're not saying that he used to be not human, are you? 'Cause if you are, that's totally not true." Yuma said nervously. To his relief, Loon shook her head. **

**"Of course not. I'm just simply asking a question from the point of view of someone who will give me a good answer. If you ask anyone else, they look at you like you're crazy." Astral pondered the question for a minute or two.**

**"Human emotions…it's odd having them. You can never be too sure whether you're happy or not until something happens that makes you ****_unhappy_****. Although, other peoples' emotions are easier to read than my own. For some reason, seeing other people happy makes me feel happy. And the same thing happens if I see someone unhappy." Even though he didn't answer whether he liked the emotions or not, Loon seemed to be happy with what she got. "I don't know how I know to do so, but I know when there are certain emotions that I don't want. Fear, anger, sadness, envy. They're all emotions I know that I don't want to have, but must succumb to at least once." Loon nodded and joined him at the window.**

**"But there are good emotions; joy, pride, courage, love. I feel the same way about emotions. We need them to know who we are." Yuma felt a tinge of guilt in his stomach. He knew it was his fault Astral was human; he had wished for Astral to have an easier way to make observations on humans without Yuma getting embarrassed himself.**

**Without thinking he blurted out, "But having pride for the wrong reasons is never good." It was true, though. Yuma had let his pride get in the way of helping Astral. Loon nodded and looked at Yuma.**

**"Sometimes people let pride get in the way of friendship." The tinge of guilt went deeper; Loon knew. He didn't know how, but she knew. She knew everything. Maybe she wasn't as crazy as everyone made her out to be. She put something in Yuma's hand. "I know you'll do what's right." With a pat on Astral's back, she walked out. Yuma looked in his hand; a rock. It was small and colorful. Along with the rock was a note crumpled up. **

**_This is a Wishing Stone. Unlike the shooting stars and dandelions, this works 100% of the time. But it only grants one wish per user. I'm leaving it up to you if you want to turn Astral back now or later, when you start to appreciate your friendship with him. The sooner you tell him, the nicer his reaction will be. Anger is only temporary, but friends last a lifetime if you treat them right. The choice is up to you. I'd suggest telling him now before he learns to feel anger. If you have any questions, my shoppe is downtown. In front of the old theatre._**

**Yuma put the note in his pocket and looked at the stone. Shoppe? Since when did she have a shoppe? That was irrelevant. ****_Friends last a lifetime if you treat them right. _****Was she implying that he wasn't a good friend? It was nearly 5 PM and a rumbling came from Astral's stomach. He held his stomach, looking at it funnily. Yuma laughed and went to the fridge.**

**"Chill, dude. You're just hungry. Though it surprises me after all that cake you were eating earlier." **

**"Hmm…when humans are hungry, their lower half starts growling and to fix it, they need to 'chill.'" Yuma handed him a peanut butter sandwich.**

**"Stop taking things so literally. I just meant relax. This sandwich should keep you busy." Astral stared at Yuma as he started to eat his sandwich. Astral pulled the sandwich apart to look at the peanut butter in the middle. Ignoring this, Yuma wiped crumbs off his face. "So how are we going to get you around town without the AFA trying to get you to ask them to the school dance?" **

**"AFA?"**

**"Astral Fangirl Army. Pretty much every girl in town that takes on look at you and BAM, starts following you, trying to give you another kitten." **

**"Perhaps there is a way to disguise myself." **

**_Though we wouldn't need to disguise you if I weren't so selfish. _****Yuma thought. As he swallowed the bite of his sandwich, he noticed that instead of eating the sandwich, Astral had given it to the kitten that was now nibbling on the bread. "Well, maybe we can hide you with sunglasses and a hoodie. **

**"Huh?" Yuma stood up and ran into another room. He came back with a hooded jacket, baseball hat and sunglasses.**

**"Put these on." Astral obeyed and when he looked in the mirror, his face, though hidden mostly by the hood on the jacket, showed that he disapproved of the disguise. "Well, it's the best we're gonna do unless you want to walk around with a sheet over your head." Astral sighed and decided that he didn't look half bad once he took the hood off his head. **

**"So, where is our destination?" **

**Yuma opened the door with his finger in the air. "TO DINNER!" Not five minutes after they stepped out of the house did they run into Tori. She, along with the rest of the girls behind her, looked angry.**

**"Where is Astral? I swear if you turned him back, you're dead meat!" She threatened. **

**"Uh, I-I…he-he went…to…go look at ducks! Yeah, ducks. Because they're so cute and cuddly and he likes the word, 'duck'. Heh." Tori looked at him skeptically. They paid no attention to the young man behind Yuma wearing clothes that were awfully odd for such a warm day. **

**"If he's not there, you're dead. And just in case you decide to run off, you're coming with." Yuma swallowed hard. Astral leaned toward him and whispered something that sounded awfully like 'when I say so, run.' Before Yuma could confirm this, Astral took off his disguise. The girls, forgetting about Yuma stared at Astral for a few seconds. **

**"Run!" Yuma shouted. As if on cue, Astral, Yuma, and the 'AFA' dashed off. Even though Astral was a tad more fit than Yuma (this was shown by Yuma starting to pant already and Astral sprinting ahead of him), Yuma started taking larger steps, getting ahead of Astral. "Run faster! It's you they want!" Astral turned a corner into a skate park and grabbed a skateboard. The crowd stopped as they saw him speed onto a half pipe. Yuma's jaw dropped as Astral jumped off the half pipe and landed beside him a split second before continuing. **

**As if a gear had shifted, Yuma and the AFA continued running. Yuma managed to keep a good pace with Astral. "Since when can you skateboard?" He asked. Astral shrugged.**

**"I guess since about 30 seconds ago." Astral answered. **

**"You know how to stop, don't you?" Before Yuma could get an answer, Astral grabbed him by the back of his shirt as they turned into an alley. And to answer his question, they both crashed into a dumpster. Yuma crawled to get out, but Astral pulled him in and shut the dumpster. The girls ran past the alley and didn't notice the dumpster lid open slightly, revealing two sets of eyes. **

**"Women are weird." They both said in unison. As Yuma went to get out of the dumpster, something slammed the lid on his hand.**

**"OW!" He opened the lid and fell to the ground, holding his hand in pain. When he looked up, he saw Loon standing in front of him. "Are you stalking us?"**

**"Yes." She admitted. Astral climbed out of the dumpster, dusting himself off. **

**"Note to self: learn how to stop a skateboard." He said to himself. **

**"That was a nice thing you did for Yuma, showing yourself to keep him from getting beat up."**

**Yuma stared funnily at Loon for a few seconds. He knew what she was doing: Making him feel guilty about not having told Astral about the stone. **

**"Well, I could have taken a couple of girls trying to beat me up because they're obsessed with him. It's not _my _fault they think he's dreamy. That's all on him and his goofy hair." Her eyes, even though he couldn't see them through her thick glasses, seemed to read his mind.**

**_But it's your fault that he's human,_**** they seemed to say. He crossed his arms.**

**"Besides, it's weird to follow us. Don't you have somewhere to be? Like your home?" He poked her forehead.**

**As usual, her smile did not fade. She merely snatched Astral's tie off of him and stepped into the open. A loud whistle came from her and the AFA stopped and stared at her. **

**"I have Astral's tie. The last one standing with the tie in their hand gets to date him." Staring in awe, the AFA watched as the tie dropped to the ground and everyone was climbing over each other to try and reach it. As if out of nowhere, another tie exactly like Astral's appeared in her hand. Staring at the AFA with what looked like a slightly scared face, Astral took the tie. "I'd suggest you leave before there's a winner." The two boys nodded and ran off. **

**As they disappeared, you could hear Yuma say to Astral, "After dinner you have to teach me how to skateboard. Maybe I'll finally be better than Bronk at something." **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: SentenMajik comes from Senmonten Majikku, which means 'Shoppe of Magic.'**

**The next morning, Yuma woke up to his usual alarm. He put the pillow over his head, trying to muffle the noise, but eventually, he gave in and woke up, turning the alarm off. Had all of yesterday been a dream? A noise from across the room answered his question. Astral was still fast asleep. Funny, he didn't really look like the type to be a heavy sleeper. Rolling his eyes, Yuma took in a deep breath and shouted, "ASTRAL, WAKE UP! YOU'RE GOING TO OVERSLEEP!" Just as Yuma had predicted, with a shout, Astral fell out of his makeshift bed. Rubbing his back, Astral looked up at Yuma, still very sleepy. "Not so easy waking up this early, is it, Mr-I-Need-To-Remind-Yuma-To-Wake-Up-Every-Single-Day-Because-It's-So-Easy-Waking-Up-This-Early?" **

**Ignoring the false accusation (for Astral had never said it was easy), he stood up and dusted himself off. "In my defense, I've never shouted in your ear."**

**Yuma rolled his eyes and put his hands behind his head. "I never thought of you as the heavy sleeper type. You look like the kind of student that would stay awake all night studying and still wakes up early the next day." Astral rubbed his eyes sleepily. **

**"I've never necessarily needed sleep before." **

**"Whatever. Just get up and get ready for school." Yuma threw a pillow at his face as he left the room. Kari was sitting at her computer as usual. Usually she'd ignore him, but Yuma knew that she wouldn't this time now that she knew Astral was staying there. It had been a slightly scary event the previous night.**

**Yuma had been fast asleep when something woke him. Astral was standing above him with a highly worried look on his face. "What now? Did you forget how to use the bed?" He asked with a bit of sarcasm and contempt in his voice. **

**Astral shook his head. "There's this weird feeling in my lower half and I'm not quite sure how to get rid of it." He explained. Yuma rolled his eyes and looked at the clock. 12:15 AM. He then noticed how Astral was childishly bouncing around on his feet. **

**"You have to use the bathroom." Angrily, Yuma put his face in the pillow. Not another word was said for a few minutes. "You're still standing in front of my bed, aren't you?" With an exasperated sigh, Yuma sat up. "You can't be serious. You don't know how to use the bathroom? You've been human for how long and you don't know how to use the bathroom?" A vein throbbed in Yuma's head as no answer came from Astral. "You cannot be saying that since you've been human, you've _never _had to use the bathroom!" **

**"Not that I recall." That had been when Kari had heard something come from Yuma's room. She walked in to see Yuma with one hand shoving a pillow in Astral's face while the other held a phone.**

**"Tori, get over to my house and quick. Or else I might've finished suffocating Astral by then." Kari tapped her fingers on the door.**

**"Yuma, what are you doing?" She asked angrily. **

**"Getting rid of the only thing on this planet that makes me unhappy besides school." Angrily, she pulled him off of Astral and crossed her arms at him. "I wasn't actually gonna kill him. Just make him unconscious." Astral sat up and pulled the pillow off of his face. Kari looked at him and pushed Yuma out of the way. **

**"Who's your cute friend? Does he have an older brother?" Yuma sighed and crossed his arms. **

**"A friend from school, he's an only child, he's not cute, and before you ask, he doesn't have any parents, they're dead." Picking Astral up by his ear, Yuma threw him into a closet and slammed it shut, putting a chair under the door knob. "And he's not coming back out until Tori comes and picks him up so she can teach him to use the bathroom." Kari shoved Yuma into a wall. **

**"You are not moving that boy out of this house!"**

**"Oh come on! You have a crush on him, too? Does every girl in town have a crush on him?" Irritated, Yuma stomped back into his room. A rapid knock on the door called Kari's attention. She opened the door to see Tori in her pajamas. **

**"Where's Astral?" She asked desperately. **

**"Not here." Kari shut the door on her face. **

**It had been about an hour or two before Yuma let Astral out of the closet. Of course, half the reason he let him out was because Kari said that if he didn't, she'd ship Yuma to an orphanage. **

**As Astral walked out of the bedroom in the morning after Yuma walked into the kitchen, Kari's eyes seemed to brighten up. "Good morning, Astral. I made you some breakfast. Eggs, bacon, French toast, and a big glass of orange juice."**

**She pointed to the table, where a hot breakfast was waiting at the table for Astral.**

**"How come _he _gets breakfast and I get cereal?" Yuma asked angrily.**

**"Because you didn't wake up early enough." **

**"We got up at the same time! Not to mention uh, one I'M YOUR BROTHER!" Rolling her eyes, Kari went back to her computer. **

**_Observation 24, when around a male that human females find attractive, they behave erratically, forgetting whom they should pay more attention to,_**** Astral thought. Angrily, Yuma took a piece of bacon and stomped outside.**

**"I'm going to school." School wasn't as relaxing as he hoped it would have been. Girls were fighting each other to get a glimpse of Astral. **

**"I was here first!"**

**"Well, I saw him first!"**

**"Move! I'm the prettiest!" **

**Yuma's face turned red with anger and he muttered to Astral, "Aren't you going to do something about them? Tell them you're taken or something."**

**"They seem to have calmed down to where no harm is done. I see no point in trying to send them away." Astral said.**

**"Trying to kill each other to kiss you is harmless? Aliens." A short girl with orange, paintbrush pigtails pushed Tori out of the way.**

**"Move! I deserve to be in front!" Angrily, Tori tugged on her pigtail.**

**"Well, I _met _him first, so bug off, paintbrush head!" Yuma sighed and slammed his head on his desk.**

**"You've got to be kidding me." Yuma muttered.**

**"_I'm _gonna be the one to be Astral's first kiss!" All the girls shouted. The annoyed teenager stood on Astral's desk and held up a fist.**

**"Here's a little bit of information! None of you are gonna be Astral's first kiss, you wanna know why!?" He crouched down, pulled Astral's face toward him and kissed him. The girls stood there speechless. "Happy now!? _I _was his first kiss, so go away!" A hand gripped his ankle and yanked him into the crowd of girls. "Ah!" It was Tori, who had started stomping on him, along with other girls who had joined in. The first bell had rung and they all rushed to their seats. Astral looked down at Yuma. **

**"Perhaps they aren't so harmless." He commented.**

**"Shut up, Astral." Yuma groaned.**

**"I assume that wasn't normal behavior for a human?" **

**"You got that right. And lay off the sushi. You taste like a sushi bar!" Yuma quickly and aggressively rubbed his tongue on his tie. "Gross! I can't believe I kissed you!" Loon laughed as she rested her chin on her hand, staring at him. "What are you laughing at?" **

**"I was just thinking about how you and Astral make a cute couple." Yuma's face turned white for a second and then to beet red.**

**"Look, lady, who do you think you are anyway? Why aren't _you _killing every other girl to get near Astral like everyone else? Be normal for once!" **

**"Do you want to know why I'm not crazing over Astral?" **

**"Uh…." Loon stood up as she gathered her books. **

**"I don't believe in making eye contact with supernatural beings. I fear that if one becomes mortal, any mortal of the opposite gender who makes eye contact is put in a trance that woos them into falling in love with the being. But I guess _males_ can fall in love with him, too." She disappeared out of the classroom with a smile on her face. Yuma looked at Astral with a raised eyebrow.**

**"VERY FUNNY!" His cheeks burning, Yuma stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked away. He felt the Wishing Stone in his pocket. It would have been easier to have already wished Astral back to normal. But why hadn't he already done that? Looking back, he noticed Astral nervously but happily talking to the girls surrounding him. He _did _look happy. Maybe Yuma didn't want Astral to be turned back so soon because he was enjoying being human too much. True, Astral had been a pain in the neck the past few days, but Yuma was really starting to enjoy the company, too. As he walked closer to Astral and the AFA, he overheard Tori's voice.**

**"Astral, since _I'm _the only girl you've actually _met _before," she'd shoved the orange-haired girl from earlier into a trashcan, "I was wondering if you'd like to attend the school dance with me." Yuma stepped in front of Astral, his chest slightly puffed out.**

**"Well _I'm _the one who introduced you to him, so _I _should get a little recognition." Yuma said. Tori's eyes seemed to fill with contempt.**

**"Don't speak over Astral _ever_, Yuma." Frightened, Yuma stepped back nervously. Smiling innocently, she turned back to Astral, holding her hands together. "So what do you say? Would you like to go to the dance with me?" Another girl pushed her out of the way.**

**"Move, bunhead! I was here first!" Slowly, as the two started arguing, Astral snuck behind the crowd of girls who were starting to form and crawled away from them. Yuma pulled him up by his collar. **

**"We should go before they realize you're gone." Too late. Girls were already chasing them. "JI!" Grabbing Astral's wrist, Yuma ran into the school courtyard. "Up the tree!" Quickly, they both climbed the tree. **

**"Yuma, I believe I'm experiencing the human emotion of fear." Astral commented as he looked below at the fangirls. "I do not think that this is a fear I want to face." **

**"Neither do I." Astral's foot slipped and to save himself, he grabbed on to Yuma's ankles. "Hey! Let go!" Yuma's cheeks turned red as he felt his pants fall down. Once again, Astral glanced down at the girls, trying to reach him. **

**"I hope you don't mind if I say no on account of my safety." Quickly, Astral used Yuma's head to lift himself onto the top branch of the tree. **

**"Hey! Watch it!" Yuma rubbed his head. When Yuma looked up to continue yelling at Astral, he had disappeared into the top of the tree. "How did you climb that so fast?" Gripping the branch he was on for dear life, Yuma felt something start to crack. "Uh-oh." The branch fell to the ground. ****Yuma groaned, rubbing his gut. The AFA looked up at the tree with defeat and sadly walked away. Dusting himself off, Yuma looked up at the tree. "They're gone, you can come down now." No answer came from Astral. Yuma shrugged and walked away. "Big baby." It was then that he remembered the stone in his pocket. After school, he decided, he'd go to Loon's magic shoppe she mentioned. **

**By the time the last bell rang, Yuma had not seen hide nor hair of Astral. _I'll go check on him later. _Reading the note, he walked downtown. When he got there, it came to him as a surprise that he'd walked past the shoppe before. It was teal with aquamarine decal and a big blue door that looked like it belonged in a palace. Above the door was a large wooden sign that read, 'SentenMajik'. Yuma took in a deep breath and walked in. It was a cozy shoppe that smelled vaguely of grill smoke and a scent that reminded Yuma of burning stew. Monkey paws, crystal balls, necklaces and amulets, charms, books, anything that you could think of was stacked high on the shelves. **

**A few people were in the store, though they had skeptical looks on their faces, asking themselves if the artifacts were really magic. A box caught Yuma's eye. It was black glass with a ruby on the top of it. There seemed to be something missing from it; the foam in the box was shaped to be something, but whatever that something was wasn't there. He went to go touch it, but a voice made him jump and forget about the box.**

**"Yuma, so glad you could stop by." Loon said, dragging out a cart that looked like it was full of more books. She was wearing a long, lavender gown and on her head rested a tiny gold tiara. But the biggest shock to Yuma was when she turned around to face him; instead of wearing her thick glasses, her eyes were showing clear as day. Narrow, friendly, light blue eyes. **

**"Whoa, Loon-I mean Kurutta. You're actually pretty." He said. Ignoring that he had called her Loon, she continued stocking spell books. **

**"What brings you to my shoppe?" She closed the box that Yuma had been looking at and put it on a shelf behind her.**

**"Uh, I just wanted to see what your store was all about." He noticed a group of girls crowding around a stand of wooden charms. He raised an eyebrow, wondering what the hype was.**

**As if she read his mind, which he didn't doubt she could do, Loon answered, "Love Charms. They make whomever you like fall in love with you." Yuma rolled his eyes, rubbing his forehead. There was no doubt on who those charms were going to be used on. "Between you and me, those don't work. They're not really magic; it's just something I whipped up to get girls to be more confident when talking to their crushes." It was then that Yuma noticed Tori with one of the Love Charms. **

**"Once I use this, Astral will definitely fall in love with me. He'll ask me to the dance and at the end he'll say those three words-"**

**"Tori, is that you?" Yuma asked. **

**"YUMA! DON'T INTERRUPT MY DAYDREAMS!" She shouted angrily. Loon smiled as she stepped between them.**

**"Tori, I'm sure Astral will like you just the way you are." She said calmly. Tori's cheeks flourished. **

**"You really think he likes me?" A vein throbbed in Yuma's forehead. Loon just nodded and handed Tori a bottle. **

**"But if you're really that worried, drink this potion and it'll definitely increase your chances of being with him. On the house." Tori smiled and went back to daydreaming. "Is there anything I can help you with, Yuma?"**

**"Why are you letting Tori use magic on Astral?"**

**She leaned in close and whispered, "It's just decaffeinated soda." Yuma made a face and sighed. **

**"Is anything in this shoppe actually magic?"**

**"Oh, of course. What people don't realize about magic is that you can't make anyone do anything against their will or fall in love." Yuma couldn't take his eyes off of hers. Was that what she meant when mortals who made eye contact with the supernatural would fall in love with them? Maybe that was why she wore glasses. "You are stupid for not taking my advice. The longer he stays human, the more emotions he'll feel. And there's no telling how he acts when he's angry."**

**"I know, but I mean…I like hanging out with Astral. I can actually talk to him without feeling awkward about it." Loon smiled as if she understood. "Eh, I mean, it's not like people didn't know he existed _before_ if that's what it sounded like." She didn't seem to be paying attention, she was feeding a small yellow bird that was hanging in a cage. **

**"Yuma, you _do _know that people say I'm crazy, but we both know I could see Astral all along." **

**"Huh?" **

**The bird flew out and rested on her finger. "My eyes see more than just you, me and the people in this room. Glasses help normal people see _better_, but my glasses help me see _less_." Yuma stood there, trying to comprehend what she was saying. "I can see much more than you think. I can see auras, spirits, entities, and yes even Astral." A small giggle came from her. "That's why I have not fallen for Astral. You see him as a human, I do not. I still see him as a spirit." Her face suddenly got serious as she stared at him. "I'm warning you now Yuma, telling him now is better than telling him later." Yuma swallowed as she went into the back room. **

**His attention was called to the box that he had seen earlier. He had just been about to reach over and touch it when Loon's hand fiercely came down and slapped his hand away. "Don't touch that. And for future reference, I suggest not wearing your Key in here." Yuma looked at her with a befuddled look as she put the box in a locked cabinet. "Alright, girls, the shoppe will be closing in a few minutes. I suggest you purchase your stuff now because when the shoppe closes, nothing is for sale until next opening time." As if they were all set on a timer, the girls ran to the counter, stepping all over Yuma, trying to be the first to purchase their Love Charm. Bruised, he crawled away and checked his watch. He had been there for hours. It had only seemed like a few minutes.**

**Quickly, he ran to the tree which he assumed Astral was still hiding in. "Hey, Astral! You still up there?" A rustle from the leaves answered his question. "It's safe to come down now." An eye poked from the leaves.**

**"I doubt that." **

**"Are you gonna stay up there for the rest of your life?"**

**"Depends, is this the only place they can't reach me?" Yuma made a frustrated noise and growled. But his angry face turned back to normal and he shrugged.**

**"Fine, then I guess you won't get this cake I bought you." There was a long silence. Yuma pulled out a small, round cake and held it up so Astral could see. His head poked from the tree and he slowly climbed down the tree. Yuma smiled as he handed him the cake. When they got home, Yuma slowly opened the door, hoping that Kari wasn't still awake. Thankfully, she was asleep. "Alright, time to go to bed. You can eat the cake tomorrow." Yuma snatched the cake from Astral and put it in the back of the cupboard. Sluggishly, Yuma fell to his bed, asleep. **

**Hours passed since they had fallen asleep, but something woke Yuma up around 1:15. Rustling of leaves outside his window. Odd, there was no wind. At least, none that would make leaves move so loudly. He opened the window to see Astral climbing the tree. "What are you doing? It's one in the morning. Go back to sleep!" Astral looked at him as he finished climbing the branch. **

**"I woke up and could not go back to sleep, so I decided to stay outside for a while. I didn't mean to wake you." Yuma made a face.**

**"You couldn't sleep so you climbed a tree? Aliens." Yuma closed the window and locked it. Not a second had passed when Yuma came back to the window and opened it. "Is this the reason you were having a hard time waking up in the morning? Were you doing this last night?" Astral nodded. "You need to go back to sleep if you want to be awake in the morning. Okay? Get back in here now." Without saying a word, Astral jumped from the tree branch and landed on Yuma's windowsill. "JI! How did you do that? Since when could you jump from trees to windows?"**

**"I'm not quite sure. I just jumped without thinking." Yuma groaned and pulled his friend in.**

**"Just get in here before you get a cold." The next morning, Yuma groaned as Astral pulled the blanket off of him. "Aah, it's too early." **

**"Aren't you the one who said that I need to get up early?"**

**"Yeah _you_need to get up early, not me." He pulled the blanket over his head.**

**Astral sighed and looked at the clock. **

**"Yuma, we must hurry." After no answer came from him, Astral walked out. Yuma immediately jumped out of bed, getting dressed and rushed downstairs as he put his shoes on. **

**"Hey! Don't leave without me!" Yuma rushed after Astral, trying to tie his shoe while running. "Why'd you take off?"**

**"You were sleeping." Yuma groaned and jumped when he saw the AFA waiting on the school grounds.**

**"Ready to face your worst fear again?"**

**"They are not my worst fear. My worst fear is cats."**

**"But you have a kitten!"**

**"They seem much more harmless as infants." **

**"Whatever. You're weird." Yuma cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted, "HEY, GIRLS! HE'S OVER HERE!" Immediately, the girls shoved Yuma out of the way, surrounding Astral. To Yuma's surprise, Loon was within the crowd of girls. Though, she didn't look like she wanted to try and kiss him like the other girls. Instead, she looked more like she was trying to get in the middle of the crowd. Once she made it into the middle, the girls separated, looking confused. **

**"Where'd he go? Astral!" The girls called out. Something grabbed Yuma's foot, though there was nothing there. **

**"AH! GHOST!" There was a small giggle. "Huh? Loon?"**

**"I knew this cloak would come in handy." Her head appeared from under a cloak, smiling up at him. "I didn't mean to scare you." She pulled the cloak off, revealing Astral beside her. He looked up at Yuma, blinking. **

**"These females are scarier than felines." He commented. **

**"Astral…"**

**"Y-Yes?"**

**"May I have my hand back now?" Astral immediately let go, realizing that he had a grip of her hand. Yuma jokingly made a kissy face, holding his hands together. **

**"Astral and Loony sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G-WHA!" The AFA pushed him out of the way, shoving him into a nearby fountain, surrounding Astral.**

**"Move aside, Nutcase!" A girl said, shoving Loon out of her way as she joined Yuma in the fountain. Even though she was still smiling, Yuma could tell that she wanted to cry. **

**"Hey, leave her alone! If it wasn't for her, you guys wouldn't even _know _about Astral, so you have her to thank!" Yuma shouted. He helped her to her feet. "Are you okay?" **

**"Yes, thank you. Oh no, where are my glasses?" Loon asked, frantically searching the water for them. **

**"No big deal, you can just get a new pair, can't you?"**

**"You don't understand; these are…special glasses." **

**"I'll help you find them." He splashed the water around, searching for her glasses. Victoriously, he held up the pair of over-sized glasses over his head. "Ha! Found 'em!" **

**"Thank you." She started picking up the books of hers that were knocked out of her backpack. She picked up a book that had been soaked and sighed. "Oh well…I guess this book will have to dry." A girl picked up one of her books, reading the title with a skeptical look. **

**"A spell book? Really? You don't honestly believe in those kinds of fairy tales, do you?" She asked. **

**"They're not fairy tales. Believe it or not, a spell is how that 'dreamboat' of a boy you're surrounding came to be." **

**"Whatever. Just keep your voodoo away from us." She shoved the book into Loon's arms and turned back toward the other girls. "What a freak." **

**"I know, right?" Her friend agreed as they started walking away. "I bet she uses voodoo to make friends." Loon sighed and turned away. Yuma watched as she walked to a bench. He walked up to her nervously. **

**_I hope I know what I'm doing. _****"Uh, Loon, I wanted to ask you something…"**

**"If you don't want to be seen around me anymore, that's fine by me." She said with an upset voice.**

**"No, that's not it! Honest. I just wanted to know if you'd like to…go to the dance…with me…just as friends. Totally a Plutonian thing."**

**She laughed. "You mean 'plutonic'." **

**"Yeah, whatever. Do you or don't you?" **

**"I'd love to! I mean, it'd be nice to have someone want to be seen in public with me." **

**"Well…don't think this makes us boyfriend and girlfriend…because I don't like you like that! Maybe Astral, but not me." Loon raised an eyebrow.**

**"That's what plutonic means, Yuma." **

**"Huh?"**

**"Plutonic means that there are no romantic feelings." She giggled. "Sometimes I think you just say words to sound smart."**

**"I'm smart!" This made Loon laugh even harder. **

**"I never said you weren't smart." Yuma's cheeks reddened. "So when do you want me to be at your house?"**

**"What? Oh right. I don't know. Just show up sometime. You know, unless you wanna go with Astral, fine by me. Be my guest." Loon rolled her eyes and looked at the clock on the building. **

**"Time for school." She walked in the classroom, drying off her books. Yuma sighed and looked at the AFA. Should he help Astral out of this one? Remembering his past experiences with the AFA, Yuma decided against it. It was then that he saw somehow, Astral had managed to escape from them by climbing up the flagpole behind them. **

**"Huh? How'd he get up there?" The girls looked around, realizing that he was gone. When they looked up, he had managed to disappear from the flagpole. "Hey! Where'd he go?" They looked around and saw that he'd already entered the school doors. Pushing Yuma out of the way, the girls ran into the building. Yuma slowly walked after them, searching all around for Astral. He noticed Astral poking his head out from a locker. Sneering, he snuck up behind Astral and grabbed his shoulders. Or, at least, he would have if Astral hadn't grabbed his wrist and wrenched it behind his back while slamming his head into the locker door. "Ow! What the heck is wrong with you? And how'd you get so strong?" **

**"Oh, sorry." Astral let go of Yuma quickly and stepped back. "Maybe you should go get your head checked out."**

**"I'm fine!" Yuma rubbed his head angrily. "Ji! We're gonna be late for class! I'll complain about you later." He quickly ran to the classroom and sat down, panting at his desk. Astral walked in behind him as the bell rang. The girls swarmed around him. **

**"Astral, where'd you go?"**

**"We missed you!"**

**"You didn't get hurt or anything, did you?"**

**"Uh, yeah, he just slammed my head into a locker and almost broke my wrist, but I'm fine." Yuma growled. Loon laughed. "What are _you _laughing at?"**

**"I'm just thinking about yesterday." Yuma's mind traveled back to the previous day. He sunk his head on his desk; remembering that previous morning. His first kiss has been Astral. **

**"What about it?" He asked in a half-nonchalant, half-depressed tone. **

**"Why'd you kiss him?"**

**"BECAUSE I'M TIRED OF A BUNCH OF SCHOOLGIRLS TRYING TO FIGHT OVER WHO GETS TO BE HIS FIRST KISS WHEN I KNOW HE WANTS _YOU _TO BE HIS FIRST KISS!" Loon raised an eyebrow, looking confused. **

**"What?"**

**"Nothing." He hid his face in his textbook and blushed. "Wait, this isn't my textbook. This is a spell book. Did you give me one of your spell books?"**

**"Hmm, it's one of my spell books, how'd it get there? Usually it's in my jacket."**

**"I must have somehow taken it when you used your wrapped up jacket to cushion my head when was face-desking." Yuma started reading the spell book and he looked at her angrily. He stood and pointed at her. "_You're _the reason Astral is human! _You _made that shooting star!" Loon blinked and let Yuma continue his rant. "Of all the sneaky, deceitful, _ludicrous_! YOU'RE LOW! If you still think that I'm going to the dance with you, think again!" He crossed his arms and sat down. Loon rolled her eyes and continued reading her spell book. "Everyone in class is staring at me, aren't they?"**

******"Pretty much." Yuma sighed and looked at the clock. Only six and a half hours left. To his surprise, Astral had not only improved in tree climbing.**

**When the time for gym came, Astral had seemed to be the first one able to climb the rope and be the first one across the finish line in the relay race. Yuma confronted him after science, when he had miraculously solved the scientific equation on the board in less than 10 seconds. It seemed pretty odd that Astral, who knew so little about Earth could solve their problems so easily. After the bell had rang for lunch, Yuma tried to pull Astral aside, but he was already crowded by girls.**

**"Astral, hey!-" His voice was over-powered by the rest of the students surrounding Astral. Squeezing his way through the crowd, Yuma fell when he managed to get to the front. "Hey! I'm talking to you!" Yuma made a face when he saw the AFA standing in front of Astral, holding all types of cake and sushi.**

**"Eat this one first, it's your favorite. See? It even has your face on it! And it's homemade." A girl said. Tori shoved her out of the way.**

**"Well _I _made you a bento box. It has sushi, rice, and seaweed wraps!" She said, showing him a bento box. Yuma rolled his eyes and dragged Astral away from the crowd by his ear.**

**"You're coming with me." He growled. The moment they were out of earshot, Yuma smacked his head. "Why didn't you tell me you knew how to do all of that smart stuff? It could've saved me a lot of trouble with my grades for _months _now."**

**"I didn't know I could do it. It's simple mathematics, really."**

**"SIMPLE!? SINCE WHEN IS ALL OF THAT MUMBO JUMBO SIMPLE!? That's it, we're turning you back." Yuma reached into his pocket for the Wishing Stone, but didn't feel it. "Huh?" He turned all of his pockets inside-out, searching for it. The Stone was nowhere to be found. "Uh, stay right here. If you see any fangirls, hide." Yuma ran back into the gym. Maybe he dropped it when he was squeezing through the crowd. Searching every square inch of the gym, all he found was chewed up gum and dirt. "Oh man, just when I decide to do the right thing, the Wishing Stone is gone!" **

**"Looking for something?" A voice asked. He turned around to see Loon. **

**"I lost the Wishing Stone you gave me. I…I…I was gonna use it to finally turn Astral back and then it wasn't in my pock-Wait a minute. I'm mad at you. It was _you _who turned him human in the first place."**

**"Yuma, you never lost it."**

**"Huh?"**

**"The Wishing Stone is truly magical. It is in your pocket, but cannot be accessed by you."**

**"You're not making much sense."**

**"If the holder wants to make a wish out of greed, pride, envy, or any other of the Sins, the Stone will not be accessible to the holder. For example, if the wish is for someone to get hurt, the Stone will not appear to the holder. You only want Astral to be back the way he was before because you're jealous of all the fame he's starting to get."**

**He crossed his arms. "I think you're lying." Loon reached in his pocket and pulled her hand out. There was nothing in her hand. "Uh, you just pulled out lint."**

**"To you it appears as lint because you want a Sinful wish, but to _me, _the Stone appears as what it is." **

**"What wish do _you _want?"**

**"I have everything I could ever wish for. Tell me, do you count Astral as a friend?"**

**"Huh? Well, yeah I guess."**

**"You hesitated turning him back because you were starting to like having him around, right? While everyone else was still able to see him."**

**"Yeah, where are you going with this? Are you gonna try and guilt trip me?"**

**Loon shook her head and put the Stone in his hand. To his surprise, it appeared as the Stone it was. "If you were really his friend, you'd want him to turn back because it's the right thing to do, not because he's more popular."**

**Yuma stomped his foot angrily. "I _knew _you were gonna guilt trip me!" **

**"Did you ever stop to ask what Astral wished for on the Shooting Star? If you found out, it might make you feel worse than you do now. For wishing that he wasn't so…human." She smiled as she flipped a piece of hair over her ear. **

**Yuma never _did _ask what Astral had wished for and he didn't doubt that Loon knew what he wished for _or _that it had to do with whatever she was trying to accomplish with them. "So…about the dance…"**

**"Hmm? Oh, you don't have to take me if you don't want to." **

**He didn't say a word for a few seconds and then mumbled with pink cheeks, "Come by my house around 7…My sister will give us a ride." Loon nodded and strode out, as if she were gliding on ice skates. She was way too happy. When Yuma walked out, he saw Astral being surrounded by a couple of boys. **

**"What's your exercise routine? There's no way anyone can climb that fast. You must be part monkey or something." One guy said. **

**"Hey, hey, hey! Leave the pointy-haired Mary-Sue alone, guys." He waved his hands to shoo them off. Instead, the tallest one laughed and puckered his lips.**

**"What are _you _gonna do? Make _us _your first kiss, too?" He mocked. Yuma's face turned beet red. **

**"I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TAKE ME ON, YOU BRICK-HEADED MORONS!"**

**He quickly covered his mouth as he realized what he said. "Uh, hehe, I didn't mean it like that. We're all adults here, right?" Yuma jumped as the two boys ran after him. Or, they would have had Astral not stepped in the way. He held his arms in a fighting position.**

**"I won't let you hurt him." He said. The two kids looked at each other, as if they were second-guessing. After ten seconds of silence, they laughed and continued with their ambush. Without a second thought on _his _part, Astral slid to the ground and tripped the taller one with blue hair and performed a thumb lock, forcing one hand to keep his thumb forced into the boy's throat. The other boy went to sneak attack Astral, but as if he had a pair of eyes on the back of his head, just as the boy jumped, Astral lifted his foot in the air, colliding it with the boy's jaw. The kid fell to the ground. Holding his jaw, the kid stumbled off.**

**Astral calmly stood and dusted himself off. Yuma stared at him with wide eyes. "Dude!" **

**"Huh?" Yuma grabbed him by the back of his shirt and pulled him away. "Where are you taking me?"**

**"To Loon!"**

**"Why?" **

**"So she can tell me what the heck is going on with you!" Yuma stopped at the door of her shoppe and held his Emperor Key. _I suggest not wearing your Key in here. _He took the Emperor Key off and put it in his pocket. The young duelist took in a deep breath and entered the shoppe.**

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed this one. Trust me, this next chapter will be more interesting. Keep reading as a bit more of Astral's history is revealed.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Okay, as promised, we're revealing more of Astral's past. Bit-by-bit. I don't want to tell you everything at once, but we DO find out a bit more about our attractive little spirit.**

**He stormed in the shoppe and slammed his hands on the counter. "Yuma, what a pleasant surprise. What brings you here?" **

**"Cut the chit-chat." He yanked Astral, who was staring at the monkey paws, to his side, pulling him by his ear. "You need to use your magic to find out what the heck is up with him and why he's now Super-boy!" **

**"I'll need you to be more specific." **

**"That's right, you're more concerned about what kind of spirit he is than him being able to break a kid's jaw with ONE KICK!" That seemed to catch her attention. "I just watched with my _own _eyes! He shoved his thumb in some kid's throat and nearly broke someone's jaw without even looking at him! ALL IN LESS THAN FIVE SECONDS!" Without another word, she walked into the back room. Loon came back with a large book. It wasn't a spell book. It was indeed a large scrapbook. "What's this? I said we need to find info on him, not go through your scrap-"**

**"Quiet. This is a book filled with notes I've taken on Astral."**

**"Notes? When the heck did you take notes? Have you been stalking us? How long has this been going on?" She didn't answer as she opened the book to a page of neatly written words. 'Astral's observations and other notes.' "What the heck is wrong with you?"**

**"I haven't been stalking you, just taking notes. Now, from what I understand, Astral has no memory of his past whatsoever unless he absorbs a 'Number Card', correct?"**

**"Yeah? So?" She opened to a page with sketches of Astral, scribbled with notes everywhere. **

**"Perhaps this sudden change in behavior is caused by the shock of him having a solid form for an extended amount of time and his reflexes and dexterity are starting to come back to his memories, increasing his skills."**

**"…In English, please?"**

**"In his past life, he must have known these skills, but in his transportation here, his memories of these were lost, and now his skills have returned to his human body."**

**"Oh. So, how exactly do we keep Captain America from accidentally killing someone? I scared him and he slammed my head into a locker!" Yuma motioned to Astral, who was looking at a rack of necklaces. He had just been about to grab one that seemed to be hypnotizing him. Loon smacked his hand and covered the necklaces. "What was that all about?"**

**"If anyone looks at them long enough, they can be hypnotized to do whatever anyone wants. As long as they have the necklace in hand. It mainly works on the naïve and innocent." Looking at the covered rack of necklaces, Yuma slammed some money on the counter and pocketed a necklace, receiving a glare from Astral. **

**"What? It'd be fun." Loon rolled her eyes and closed the book. **

**"I suppose the only thing I can suggest is try and keep his anger to a minimum. That should stop any more dangerous confrontations."**

**"…" Loon sighed.**

**"It's clear that he can have quite the temper, but as evidence proves, he only seems to fight when self-defense is necessary. So just keep yourself out of trouble and he won't have to defend you." **

**"You mean to tell me that with all that stalking you do, you can't figure out _why _he knows deadly martial arts?"**

**"It's not stalking.**

**If I was stalking, I would know everything about him. I only know as much as you do." She put the book away and sighed. "You have the Key in your pocket. When I said not to wear it, I meant to leave it at home when you plan on coming here." Yuma cocked an eyebrow. **

**"Why can't I wear it in here?" **

**"Just trust me. It's probably dangerous having Astral in here at the least." He noticed Loon cover up the black box that he had seen before and put it in the back. "You can't just have two magical items around each other without knowing what could happen." Tori ran up to Astral, followed by the rest of the girls. Cathy was in front. **

**"Astral! Tell these _losers_," Tori especially glared at Cathy, "that you agreed to take _me _to the dance this Friday." Yuma rolled his eyes and looked at the rest of the girls. **

**"Yes. I told Tori that I would attend this 'dance' with her." Astral said calmly. The rest of the AFA fell to their knees crying as Tori stuck her tongue out. **

**"See? I knew that potion would work." She held out the bottle that Loon had given her. The girls' faces turned red. **

**"YOU USED MAGIC TO MAKE HIM AGREE TO THAT!"**

**"See!? I knew he didn't agree to it!"**

**"She's a fraud!" Cathy snarled and pointed at Tori. **

**"You may be sly as a fox, but cats are sneakier!"**

**"YOU CRAZY CAT LADY! YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS THAT HE AGREED TO TAKE ME TO THE DANCE AND NOT YOU! Why don't you go back to having a crush on _Yuma_? Nobody wants to fight over _him_." Tori retorted.**

**"Hey!" Yuma snapped. Loon rang a bell and the shouting died down. **

**"If you two are going to argue over one boy, then get out of here. My store is not a place where you can use magic to fight each other. I do not use magic for violence." She said, starting to sound a bit angry. "And Astral wasn't magicked into doing anything. It goes against the laws of magic to make anyone do anything against their will or fall in love." Loon opened the door and the girls sadly walked out.**

**She blew a tuft of hair out of her face and looked back at Yuma and Astral. **

**"Wait, what was that about two magical things being in the same place? You're not saying that Astral is magical, are you?"**

**"No, but the Key still holds his soul even though he is human, therefore whatever happens to the Key, happens to Astral."**

**"So, if it breaks…" Astral commented quietly. **

**"What does that have to do with the box?" Yuma asked. Loon sighed and looked at the spell books. Realizing that he wasn't going to get an answer, he shook one of her spell books. "And _why _did you make that Shooting Star? And I bet that you _wanted _Astral to become human, didn't you? Because you're so madly in love with the supernatural…"**

**"Actually, I only made the Shooting Star. The human was all because of you two."**

**"Then how come it didn't grant our wishes? It just twisted mine and ignored Astral's." **

**"How do you know it ignored Astral's wish? Have you asked him what his wish was yet?"**

**"Well-"**

**"Then how do you know if his wish was granted?"**

**"Alright, alright! Sheesh. I'll go ask him if his wish was granted." Yuma walked over to Astral, who was looking at crystal balls. Looking over one with a pale blue dragon on it, carrying a small red orb in its mouth, Astral noticed Yuma's reflection in the crystal ball. "About that Shooting Star…what exactly did you wish for?" **

**Astral didn't answer. "It doesn't matter; I know that the wish did not come true." He seemed slightly tense. **

**"Well, if it didn't come true, why not just tell me what it was?" **

**"Because I feel stupid for even thinking that magic could make it happen. It was foolish of me to think that I could ever be friends with a selfish child." Without another word, he stormed out angrily. Yuma walked up to Loon, confused and befuddled. **

**"Did I miss something?" She sighed sadly and looked out the door. **

**"I'm…not quite sure. Perhaps I'll go talk with him." She walked out and followed him. "Astral, wait for me!" **

**"I'm not in the mood to talk right now." He said, sitting on a tree branch. **

**"Then let's just sit." She climbed up the tree and sat beside him. He was staring at the stars, not even paying attention to her. "Why are you upset?" Astral turned his head away from her and avoided the question. Loon rested her hand on his face and turned his head to look at her. "Look, whatever it is, you can tell me. Was it something Yuma did? Something _I _did?" He shoved her hand away.**

**"You know what I am upset about." **

**"I can't say that I do. If I could read minds, I'd be a fortune teller, not a witch." **

**"Why do you always do that?"**

**"Do what?"**

**"Make me feel happy." Loon laughed and rested her head on his shoulder.**

**She closed her eyes and a shooting star flew by. "Make a wish," she whispered. Astral's face went from disgruntled to happy. **

**"I already have everything I could ever wish for."**

**Her cheeks turned pink. "Why not wish to be back to normal?" Astral let out a small laugh.**

**"Don't sound too eager to get rid of me."**

**"See? You're already talking as if you were born human. I've never heard you use 'don't'. I just figured that you'd like to be rid of all the fangirls for once." He rested his hand on her face. **

**"But there's one girl that makes it all worthwhile." Without saying another word, Astral kissed her quickly, then pulled back, blushing. "S-Sorry…"**

**"It's quite alright."**

**"You're the only person who's ever made me feel like this."**

**"Like what?"**

**"Like every time you come around, I feel joy and comfort. And**

**somehow, you always make me seem happy to even if it's for a few minutes." **

**"I-I see. Well, it-it's good to experience new emotions." She ran her fingers through her hair and blushed. **

**"And if you don't mind," Astral started, though the moment her started his sentence, the look on his face told that he didn't want to finish the sentence, "I would like to experience this emotion more often." She smiled weakly and sighed. "Would you mind if I…N-Never mind." **

**"Yes."**

**"What?"**

**"You can kiss me again." **

**"Oh." He leaned in to kiss her, but she pulled back, shaking her head. **

**"Wait, I forgot what I'd come here for. Why are you so upset with Yuma?" **

**Quickly, Astral froze, seeming to forget that he was even mad at Yuma. "Well, I-" Before he could finish, the branch that they were sitting on snapped and they both fell to the ground. **

**"Ow…Are you alright?" Astral sat up and rubbed his head.**

**"Yes." He helped her to her feet. "Um, perhaps we should call it a night."**

**Astral nodded and watched as Loon ran off. She quickly entered her store. Yuma looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Well?" He asked. **

**"Hmm?" She asked. Yuma planted his face in the palm of his hand.**

**"Did you find out why Astral told me I was selfish?"**

**"Oh…no."**

**"Well, why not!?"**

**"He was just a little moody. He went home to get some rest. He'll be fine tomorrow." She hummed as she started closing doors and putting things away. Yuma rolled his eyes and walked out.**

**"Witches." When he got home, he saw Astral sitting on the couch, reading a book, humming to himself. "What the heck has gotten into _you_, Snowball?" **

**"Oh…n-nothing." Yuma raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. **

**"Your pink cheeks tell me something different." Astral ignored him and continued reading his book. "Uh, Astral…are you sure you're okay?"**

**"Yes, why?"**

**"One, that's a dictionary, and two, it's upside-down." Astral put the dictionary down and tried to rub away his blushing cheeks. "Okay, now tell me what the heck is up with you." **

**"I fear I…may…"**

**"May what?"**

**"I believe I may have crossed a line."**

**"Why? What line did you cross? Is this because you're taking Tori to the dance? I don't care. Better you than me." Astral shook his head.**

**"No, it's not that. It's Kurutta." **

**"Loon? What about her?"**

**"I…may…have kissed her-"**

**"You WHAT!? Why on earth would you do that!?"**

**"I don't know; she is just…"**

**"Like you? Look, you can't even _think _about sparking a relationship with her. You have to turn back into…whatever the heck you were."**

**"It was once and it will never happen again."**

**"Then why are you getting so worked up?"**

**"Well, I assumed that you have feelings for her-"**

**"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I think being a human has dumbed you _way_ down there, spirit boy! I do _not _like her." Yuma leaned on a table and his hand slipped on the tablecloth, falling to the ground. "Ow." Astral helped him to his feet.**

**"What's this?" He picked up the Wishing Stone and examined it.**

**"Uh, well, that's um just a stone that I found." His hand balled into a fist. "I thought it was really pretty…"**

**"You're lying! This is the stone that Kurutta gave you!"**

**"What?"**

**"I've known about this the entire time! Do you know how badly I wanted to turn back?"**

**"I-I…I thought you _liked _being a human now-"**

**"You were just tired of me embarrassing you when you were the cause of your embarrassment! You enjoyed the fact that there was no longer a leash connecting us!" Astral threw the stone. "Even if I did enjoy being a human, you could have at least told me instead of keeping it a secret from me!" **

**"Well, if you knew, then why didn't you tell me you knew?"**

**"Because I thought that perhaps you would actually be my _friend_ and tell me that you could have turned me back all this time!" Yuma laughed sarcastically.**

**"And what? Have you always following me and thinking that falling asleep on the sidewalk is normal? Tell me, Astral, have you been in those private rooms where humans release energy and get turned into guinea pigs if bothered yet? They're called _bathrooms_! Forgive me if I actually want my life to be normal for once! And you're like a super-human! Why are you so worried about being a spirit again? You're emotionless, invisible, _alien_, and NAKED!"**

**"Perhaps I prefer being all of those things because it is what I was born as! Why would I want to stay human? You're a human and the only thing spectacular about you is that you can survive off of an IQ of 74."**

**"But you know, I like you better like this. Because now that you're solid, I can finally do this!" Yuma punched Astral in the face. In an instant, Astral stood up and tackled Yuma to the ground. "Lemme go!" Yuma sent his knee into Astral's lower jaw. "Not so weak for someone with an IQ of 74, am I?" Astral threw the dictionary at Yuma's head and folded his arms.**

**"But I'm stronger." Shouting, Yuma jumped and put him into a headlock. Astral growled and bit Yuma's arm.**

**"JIIIIII!" Quickly, Yuma let go, shaking his arm. "You bit me! What are you, five!?" Yuma let out a yelp as Astral jumped on him, shoving a pillow in his face. "GET OFF ME!" Yuma pulled the pillow off of his face and pushed Astral into a closet. **

**"Shoving me into a closet isn't going to help you!" Yuma struggled to keep the door closed. **

**"Ha! What's a pretty-boy who's afraid of _cats _gonna do to me?"**

**"You're afraid of _tomatoes_!" Kari growled as she walked into the living room. When she walked in, she saw Yuma shoving a stuffed cat in Astral's face. **

**"WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON!?" Both boys started to explain at once, trying to speak over each other. "One at a time!" Astral threw the stuffed cat at Yuma.**

**"Well, he called me dumb!" Yuma said, pointing at Astral.**

**"You punched me!" Astral retorted.**

**"Because you called me dumb!"**

**"I was only speaking the truth." Kari rolled her eyes and grabbed their ears as they started shouting again, forcing them to quiet down. **

**"That's it, I don't care what happened, you two are going to bed _now_!" She threw them into the room and slammed the door shut. Yuma muttered to himself and got in his bed. **

**"Aliens." Astral rolled his eyes and laid down on the floor. "Here's your stinking pillow." Yuma threw the pillow at him and rolled over. **

**Looking at Yuma, Astral sighed. "For us to be better friends." He said quietly.**

**"What?"**

**"On the shooting star, I wished for us to be better friends." Without another word, he fell asleep. Yuma swallowed his guilt and sighed, holding the Wishing Stone. **

**_I wish we could be better friends, too_****.**

**The next morning, Yuma awoke with a start and looked around to see no Astral. Where was he this time? Yuma groaned as he looked around his room, searching for Astral. "Astral? Where are you?" He noticed the clock and turned pale. He had overslept. It was the middle of the afternoon. "ASTRAL!" He quickly dressed and ran to school. "When I get my hands on that boy, I'll-" Before he could finish his threat, he ran face-first into the school doors. "Ow." He quickly opened the door and ran into his classroom. **

**The entire class stared at him as he entered. "Yuma, you're unbelievably late." **

**"Sorry, my alarm clock broke." He looked angrily at Astral. **

**"What did you do?" Loon asked.**

**"I didn't do anything. It's your stupid boyfriend's fault." **

**"What happened? When I confronted Astral about it, all he said was that he's never talking to you again."**

**"He called me dumb." She raised an eyebrow. "And then I sort of punched him." **

**"Yuma-"**

**"Well, he started it. And why didn't you tell me that you kissed him?" Her cheeks burned pink and she looked away.**

**"It's really none of your business and for the record, he kissed _me_." **

**"If you ask me, I think that you only made him turn human just because you have a crush on him." Loon seemed to be slightly irritated.**

**"Your wish turned him human. And it's not my fault that he has a crush on me."**

**"Yes it is!" **

**"How?"**

**"Because you just _had _to bat your eyelashes at him a certain way!"**

**"Yuma, he's only seen my eyes once."**

**"And that's all it takes." She sighed and went back to reading her book. "And…I asked about his wish…"**

**"Hmm? Well?"**

**"He wished that me and him could be better friends." Loon was quiet. "And now he won't talk to me." **

**"Perhaps it's for the best."**

**"What?"**

**"Sometimes things like this happen for the best."**

**"You're saying that it's for the best that a boy who used to be alien, who knows nothing about being a human, should be left alone without a friend to explain to him how to do simple stuff like use the bathroom?"**

**"He looks like he's getting along just fine." She motioned over to Astral who was calmly reading a textbook, despite the fangirls around him with hearts in their eyes.**

**"Astral, I made you your favorite lunch." **

**"And I did all of your homework." **

**"I groomed your precious kitten." Yuma rolled his eyes. **

**"Well, he can only rely on his looks for so long." **

**"But he needs to be a spirit again."**

**"Huh? Why?"**

**"Because, no matter how much he enjoys being human, and loathes having to follow you around, we can't just up and turn him human. If it's permanent, we'd be disrupting the balance of nature."**

**"And what would happen if we do that?"**

**"Who knows? But magic is a very dangerous thing."**

**"Well, if it's dangerous to have him as a human, why the heck did you turn him into a human?"**

**"I'm not the one who did, you did."**

**"I didn't wish for him to be human, I wished that there would be an easier way for him to get observations about humans. Your shooting star just twisted my words around!" **

**"But it was your words."**

**"Your shooting star."**

**"Ever hear of the phrase, 'be careful what you wish for?' It's the same principle for everything magic; not just genies." **

**"Why did you have to get involved in this? It's my personal life. If I want to be followed by an annoying, emotionless spirit from another world that constantly embarrasses me, then let me be."**

**"I wasn't trying to keep you from being annoyed, I was trying to make you realize that you and Astral are the perfect duo."**

**"Huh?"**

**"I'm a very complicated person to get."**

**"Is this another one of your 'gay' jokes? I'm not gay, the pink in my hair is natural." **

**"I'm not making a joke. You and Astral are the perfect pair of friends. Your differences unite you two." **

**"You're not making sense, dude."**

**"Tch. You'll see soon enough. But for now, you need to keep a close eye on Astral and note any other strange behavior about him."**

**"Why me?"**

**"Because he spent the last few months making obvious observations about humans, now it's your turn, isn't it?" Yuma blinked.**

**"You mean you want me to stalk him?"**

**"Of course not. Just keep a close eye on him and note any strange behavior. Well, strange for him."**

**"And what about you? You're the one with a scrapbook of him."**

**"I'll be trying to figure out what purpose he had in his past life to know how to fight and where his latent strength has come from." **

**"How do you plan on doing that?"**

**"Anything is possible in magic, Yuma." He groaned.**

**"There's no arguing with you, is there?"**

**"None that you can win, no." He huffed and glared at her. **

**"He hates me now, though."**

**"I never said you had to be close to him, just watch him from a distance." Sighing, knowing that it was pointless trying to further the discussion, Yuma waited patiently for the day to come to its end. During gym, Yuma was watching Astral. He seemed to have gained control of the AFA, noticing that they were no longer surrounding him, though they were rooting for him for whatever sport they were doing today. A giant red ball hit Yuma across the face. He rubbed his cheek as he got back up. It was apparent that Astral had thrown it, but he had seemed to move on to a basketball, which was now spinning on top of his index finger. **

**"Dude, what the heck!? The game hasn't even started yet!" He shouted.**

**"Perhaps you should pay more attention to your surroundings, then." Astral said. Yuma growled and snatched the ball from him. **

**"Perhaps _you_ should turn back into an Astral Being." **

**"Yuma, I don't think you want me to get angry with you." Before the discussion could go any further, the coach came into the gym. **

**"Alright, today we have a simple obstacle course. Two teams will face off against each other in a number of obstacles including rope climb, relay race, and wall climb. The team with the most wins gets to have free period the rest of the week. Who wants to be the team captains?" No one raised their hand. A couple of boys pointed to Astral. **

**"We vote him." One piped up. **

**"Alright, and who's gonna be the other captain?" Whether it was by reflex, or if he was just angry for the dodgeball incident, Yuma raised his hand. The other students laughed. "Alright, Tsukumo. Captains, pick your members." After the members were picked, the two teams put on jerseys and were led to two ropes. **


End file.
